Chris Christie, New Jersey’s Republican governor, a man who fashions himself a 2016 presidential candiate, is unsure about therapy that claims to “cure” gays through hugging them homoerotically and then bashing a pillow with a tennis racket. Seriously.

New Jersey is considering similar legislation to that recently passed in California, banning “ex-gay” therapy to supposedly cure gay people, especially kids, through all sorts of bizarre and downright laughable techniques, such as the two I described above. Other techniques include “manning up” the gay guy, making him play sports and learn to act like a man, whereas lesbians are forced to put on pretty dresses and lipstick. This is what Chris Christie is unsure about.

Governor Christie is saying that he’s just not sure he likes the legislation, because he’d hate to interfere with a parent’s right to use quack science to permanently damage their child and push them into suicide.

You really out to read this piece in NorthJersey.com. It’s horrific. It reads like something out the 1950s, but it happened much more recently than that. They’re still giving kids electro-shock therapy for being gay or trans. Even more idiotic, they gave a trans teen therapy that’s reserved for “curing” gay people (even though it doesn’t) – giving her medicine to make her throw up while looking at pictures of same-sex couples. These quack therapists apparently don’t even know the difference between being gay and being trans.

Naturally, representatives of groups that claim gays can be cured showed up, and I’m sure they didn’t talk about the fact that most of their leaders have now come out and admitted that the entire thing is a hoax, no one is ever “cured.” At best, they can maybe turn you celibate. Which has nothing to do with “curing” anyone’s sexual orientation. The leader of the lead American “ex-gay” ministry recanted, so did the leader of the British one, and the Latin American one.

Other therapies involve homoerotic hugging, where the male therapist hugs the gay man, a lot, on a couch. The Daily Show, incredibly, got the “ex-gay” expert to show his technique on the air:

Another “cure” involves having the gay man take a tennis racket and beating the life out of a pillow, while screaming. The pillow supposedly represents your mother. CNN did an amazing broadcast highlighting this lunacy – seriously, watch this video if you want a good look at what Gov. Christie is unsure about.

Keep in mind that Gov. Christie is the guy responsible for killing gay marriage in New Jersey last year after the legislature passed legislation and he vetoed it. (And sure, they’re still trying to override the veto, but we wouldn’t even be in this situation if Christie weren’t a typical neanderthal bigot like every other Republican wanting to run for President.)

In the end, I don’t know if Chris Christie is a hater, woefully uninformed, or a wimp who, like Mitt Romney, thinks the only way he can become President is by renouncing all of his past moderation. That whole ethical cleansing thing didn’t work too well for Romney in 2012, and I doubt Chris Christie will fare any better in 2016.

John AravosisFollow me on Twitter: @aravosis | @americablog | @americabloggay | Facebook | Instagram | Google+ | LinkedIn. John Aravosis is the Executive Editor of AMERICAblog, which he founded in 2004. He has a joint law degree (JD) and masters in Foreign Service from Georgetown; and has worked in the US Senate, World Bank, Children's Defense Fund, the United Nations Development Programme, and as a stringer for the Economist. He is a frequent TV pundit, having appeared on the O'Reilly Factor, Hardball, World News Tonight, Nightline, AM Joy & Reliable Sources, among others. John lives in New York City, and is the cofounder of TimeToResign.com. Bio, article archive.

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Two things. I’ve done far more research than you in the past twenty years on this topic, and even its leaders admit it doesn’t work. That’s why Exodus, the lead group, basically admitted that it doesn’t work, and shut down. Have you ever noticed who twenty years ago there were supposedly “thousands” of ex-gays, and today, two decades later, there are still “thousands.” And what’s more, of those thousands, we tend to hear about one or two, like John Paulk, who then get caught sleazing it up in a gay bar. So good try :)

Hey fat boy you should turn gay like your new best friend ODUMBO an get lots of new friends an votes LMAO

Dwight

Two things…first, ex-gay therapy has a fairly high success rate, despite what critics of it want you to believe because it damages their agenda. Second, interestingly enough, ex-gay therapy is VOLUNTARY. This means that if you don’t approve of it, you don’t have to attend, unlike mandatory indoctrination sessions the gay lobby is putting into the public school systems.

arcadesproject

I think it’s an allergy. Republicans are allergic to science, to reality, to facts. Etiology? Well known propensity for facts to skew liberal. Don’t know if there’s a cure for it or not. So sad.

Just a suggestion folks? Yes, Chris Christie is what doctor’s generally diagnose as “morbidly obese.” He knows it, the world knows it, and there’s every chance his weight and appearance alone make him unelectable for office higher than governor. But the fat-jokes make us look like jerks. Really not helpful.

Actually, I think if Chris Christie thinks it’s a valid and potentially effective treatment, he should go and get himself cuddled by some dude and then ask him if it makes him feel more heterosexual and ‘manly.’

Yeah, well, Chris Christie is unsure whether donuts will make him gain weight, too. He considers them part of a heart-healthy diet.

Naja pallida

If I got hugged like that by Chris Christie, I think I’d give up human beings for a while. And probably food.

Mike_in_the_Tundra

There were many times I held my husband just like that. it didn’t turn to him straight. A couple of times, it seemed to have exactly the opposite effect.

nicho

Well, it could work. If I got a couple of “homoerotic hugs” from Christie, it could possibly put me off of men for a long time.

Stev84

That fat piece of shit wants to be president. So he will veto it just like he vetoed marriage equality.

dcinsider

Fat shit.

S1AMER

Simple decision for Christie: Do you give a damn about protecting some people in your state from psych-medical quackery, or do you want to placate the GOP’s christianist base? Sounds like a no-brainer to me — which is why Christie will choose the latter.

MyrddinWilt

Right now Christie is the only Republican official who is popular nationally. I don’t think he is a contender for 2016 but he might well get re-elected. New Jersey is solidly Democrat but that unfortunately encourages voters to put in a Republican governor to provide some ‘balance’. That is why Christie had to work so publicly with Obama during the storm, he knows that he needs Democrats to get re-elected.

Christie is behind the curve here. The GOP has abandoned the anti-gay hate plank but he has already taken hater positions. Social issues might be the one area where he is vulnerable. Not so much because of the positions themselves but because they tie him to the national GOP platform that is despised in the NE.

bkmn

My response to those pushing the so-called reparative therapy is to ask for any evidence of a study that proves their outcomes that has been peer reviewed AND published in a recognized scientific journal.

They got none of that.

kingstonbears

Definitely no danger of homoerotic hugs for him coming from here.

codyj

wow,hes HUGE…good thing they kept the ‘mooring mast’ at Lakehurst

Indigo

He is not a serious contender for the White House. He might qualify for the candidate for the Kooky Party but they have taken themselves off the responsible adults list.

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